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11 Practical Ways To Reduce Digital Consumption
11 Practical Ways To Reduce Digital Consumption
Consumption
July 17, 2020by: David Murray
The Key of Digital Detox
I am convinced—from scientific research, from personal experience, and from
counseling teens—that any attempt to replace anxiety and depression with peace and joy
must have a plan for getting our digital devices and social media under control. All the
research indicates that our overuse and misuse of digital technology is one of the
greatest causes of mental and emotional distress today, especially among teens.
Science shows that overuse of digital technology reduces attention spans, concentration,
reasoning skills, IQ, brain density, emotional resilience, and the length and quality of
our sleep. Also, excessive use of social media has been connected with poor self-esteem,
social isolation, negative self-comparison (often called “compare and despair”), feelings
of inadequacy, the pursuit of perfectionism, and shallow relationships. 1
Most social media platforms actually make anxiety worse, and Instagram is by far the
worst culprit.2 We were never intended to know so much about other people. Especially
when we are young, our minds need to focus on developing and growing and living—not
on other people’s lives or problems we can’t fix.
Sexting and pornography bring burdens of guilt, shame, and anxiety. Images of violence
leave their own scars on our brains and psyche.
Why Am I Feeling Like This?
David Murray
Counselor David Murray introduces readers to the personal stories of 18 teens who
have dealt with different types of anxiety or depression. From these accounts, Murray
equips teens with keys to unlock the chains of anxiety and depression and experience
new liberty, peace, and joy in their lives.
Even when we admit that damage is occurring, it’s very difficult to get technology and
social media under control. That’s why our overuse of it is increasingly being compared
to an addiction, with brain scans showing that screen time affects the brain in exactly
the same way that cocaine does. Some researchers are even calling screens “electronic
cocaine” and “digital heroin.” This is why we need a digital detox.
Digital Detox
You can do a digital detox by doing three things. (I’ll refer to phones but these apply to
all digital devices, including game consoles.)
Reduce frequency: limit the number of times you check your phone.
Reduce duration: shorten how long you spend on your phone.
Reduce damage: stop exposure to damaging content.
Our minds need to focus on developing and growing and living—not on other people’s
lives or problems we can’t fix.
11. Spend more time with people than with your phone.
Do things together in the real world, especially sports, hobbies, and simply relaxing and
enjoying one another.
All the scientific research encourages us that if we can get digital technology under
control, we will do so much better—physically, intellectually, relationally, vocationally,
educationally, financially, emotionally, and spiritually.
Notes:
1. Jean Twenge, iGen: Why Today’s Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More
Tolerant, Less Happy—and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood—and What That Means for
the Rest of Us (New York: Atria, 2017).
2. Amanda Macmillan, “Why Instagram Is the Worst Social Media for Mental Health,” Time, May
25, 2017, https://time.com/4793331/instagram-social-media-mental-health/.
This article is adapted from Why Am I Feeling Like This?: A Teen's Guide to Freedom
from Anxiety and Depression by David Murray.
David Murray (PhD, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) is the senior pastor of First Byron
Christian Reformed Church. He is also a counselor, a regular speaker at conferences,
and the author of Exploring the Bible. David has also taught Old Testament, counseling,
and pastoral theology at various seminaries.